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viewing 1 To 25 of 31 items
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2LP
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UNROCK 026LP
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Saginaw Racket, the new double album by Sir Richard Bishop, features the first new recordings from the former Sun City Girls guitarist in over five years. It is a singular work for electric guitar in four parts with each part being a full side. Each of the four parts were recorded in one take and they are presented in the order they were originally recorded. But this is also a circular work with no fixed beginning or end. One can start the record with any of the four sides, with the remaining sides then played in order. Known for his interpretations of Spanish, North African, Middle and Far Eastern guitar and string compositions, Richard Bishop never remains long in any one musical territory. There are no Eastern or exotic touches here. It is more reminiscent of early '70s underground rock (unrock). The entire work is improvised, with recurring motifs and melodies. It is similar in approach to Neil Young's Dead Man Soundtrack, but Saginaw Racket is louder, more energetic and more complex, while retaining its cinematic quality. The tone of the guitar is the voice of the record. It is noisy at times but it is not "noise." It definitely is a racket, though, and it unleashes all the pent-up energy of the last few years, during much of which, SRB never even picked up a guitar. So in a sense Richard Bishop is returning to his roots in the form of a spontaneous soundtrack to old Saginaw where he grew up and first learned to play the guitar -- a Saginaw that certainly doesn't exist anymore. Saginaw Racket is limited to 400 copies pressed on 140g black vinyl.
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LP
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UNROCK 025LP
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Trolling The De-Enlightenment is a solo live recording from Alan Bishop under his well-known Alvarius B. alias. It was recorded on various occasions throughout western Europe during and after the period he was recording his 2017 trilogy release With A Beaker On The Burner and An Otter In The Oven (ABDT 059CD, 2017). Bishop's presence and charisma, alongside his distinctive voice and the twisted characters he has to offer, filled the rooms he played in, and these recordings transport his unique performance vibe to this vinyl edition. The album contains some tracks you're possibly familiar with, and some which have never been played before. There's not only a re-written Bob Dylan song and two interpretations of Burt-Bacharach-lounge as it could be called, but many of Bishop's original songs are present on this first ever Alvarius B. live album release. Photos by Hans Van Der Linden. Recorded by Peter Koerfer. Master by Kubbara in Cairo. Sleeve design by Philip Lethen. Produced by Alan Bishop and Michael Stahl. Edition of 400.
Alan Bishop is perhaps best known as a founding member of the legendary Phoenix/Seattle underground band Sun City Girls, in which he played alongside his brother Richard Bishop and the late Charles Gocher. During the early 1980s he recorded with his brother Richard and Velvet Underground percussionist Maureen Tucker under the name Paris 1942. Currently Bishop is working under his Alvarius B. moniker, and is a founding member of Cairo's Invisible Hands and The Dwarfs Of East Agouza where he plays together with Sam Shalabi and Maurice Louca.
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7"
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UNROCK 030-3EP
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Dwarfs Of East Agouza are a leading force of improvised musical excitement and stand apart from wider parts of an lame ass underground of the '20s. Founded in Cairo circa 2015 by Alan Bishop (ex-Sun City Girls) with Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush, Karkhana) and Maurice Louca (Karkhana) the trio developed an unique always recognizable sound, but with many faces to show. Two very different ones are shown on their contribution to Unrock's "Il Burro Sabe Mas Que Tu" singles series. "Speaking In Tongues" sounds like a nightmare coming straight out of hell, conducted by Bishop's unique voice, while "Organism 46-B" shows them in a classical softer mode, touching nearly classical free jazz issues. Mixed by Adham Zidhan. Mastered by Peter Koerfer at Ivory Tower. Photography by Hans van der Linden, realization by Philip Lethen. Limited, one-time run on black vinyl.
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UNROCK 024LP
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The legendary Lebanese trio of trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj (Karkhana, Johnny Kafta), guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui (Calamita, Karkhana, Johnny Kafta), and bassist Raed Yassin (Praed, Praed Orchestra) celebrates their 20th anniversary with The Binding Third on Unrock. They still create acoustic improvised drones that range from insistent, chiming resonances with emergency alarm bells to low, thrumming hums but with growing intensity. Avoiding conventional technique, "A" Trio manages to create sounds like motorized devices to generate rattling, metallic vibrations, building a mechanistic backdrop out of which the instruments' true voices occasionally arise. This recording, taken at Sound Disobidience in Llubljana in 2019 reaches an exceptional electro-acoustic depth with strange sounds boiling down to a dark, heavy spiritual essence. Call it acoustic-industrial-free-jazz or call it unrock. The Binding Third is "A" Trio's first full-length album since their 2014 release Live In Nickelsdorf. In between they released a collaboration with Sun City Girl Alan Bishop and another with UK-electro-acoustic pioneers AMM. Recently A-Trio joined forces with Egyptian composer Maurice Louca on his solo-album The Luck Hour, released on Sub Rosa (SR 519LP).
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7"
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UNROCK 030-1EP
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If you ever witnessed an Alvarius B. show you are probably aware that there are a few things only in underground music matching this level. If you haven't, don't miss him when he's coming close next. Karaoke shows one of the many characters you could explore during his shows. As his brother Richard, the other keyholder of Sun City Girls legacy, Alan Bishop played a lot of shows not only under the Alvarius B. moniker on various Unrock stages through the years. "Solo Nostalgia" (E. Morricone) and "Tiba Tiba Tu Menangis" (T. Koeswoyo) are songs which Alan rarely performed and they show off his alter-ego as a cosmopolite solo-entertainer. Unrock's 30th anniversary as an entity seems to be a good reason to release those tracks at that point. Sound wizardry by Peter Koerfer, photography by Hans van der Linden, and realization by Philip Lethen. Limited, one-time run on black vinyl.
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7"
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UNROCK 030-2EP
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When internally the plan came up to release a bunch of vinyl singles for Unrock's 30th anniversary as an entity, Richard just like his brother Alan, the other keyholder of Sun City Girls legacy was among the first to take a deep look into his archives. Out came two shining pearls from different periods of his long career. "Taqasim For Omar (acoustic)" was recorded in Seattle in 2008. It was recorded before the Sir changed his mind and recorded the track with an all-electric band again for his The Freak of Araby LP (2009). "Magrebh Blues" was recorded in Tangier, 2018 when Bishop recorded Tangier Sessions in Morocco. The track came out too bluesy for what Richard wanted to show with the album, but it is the only track he played on the mysterious guitar which beautifully sounds like a Magrebhinian blues. Photography by Hans van der Linden, realization by Philip Lethen. Limited, one-time limited run on black vinyl.
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UNROCK 022LP
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Recorded live on Sept. 22, 1991 and originally released by visionary operator Nick Schultz on Majora Records, Tsunami .2↑ was, still is, and will remain a mysterious album. Because the music didn't represent or sound like either of the bands involved, they decided to call the group Square 9 and chose to leave everybody's names off of it. No further information was given, only "Recorded at Grand Theater, Buenos Aires, Argentina". Until today, nobody knows exactly who was behind the record. Rumors came up that it was part of the Sun City Girls legacy, but the "truth" lingered in the dark. So unusual and experimental the approach to record this album was, so remarkable it finally turned out. By the time it was released back in 1992 only a few dedicated core followers were aware of its existence. Everybody played anything and everything on this recording, no specific instruments are assigned to players. Different instruments, various percussion instruments, a piano and other sound sources. Insiders maybe recognize the voices of Su Ling and Alan Bishop or a piano sounding like Richard Bishop playing it. Some of the live sounds have been treated and processed live by W. David Oliphant. It was an impromptu series of improvisations by Sun City Girls and members of Life Garden (W. David Oliphant's main working group after Maybe Mental) and probably the last recordings made by members of Sun City Girls before the band fully re-located to Seattle. In retrospect it is a belonging and relevant part of the history of both bands, which needs to be broadcasted to a wider audience. 30 years after the recordings were made, a remastered version of the album is made available through Unrock. While the original release was two side-long tracks, the remastered version is split into six separate tracks, remixed and mastered by W. David Oliphant. Square 9 were (in alphabetic order): Alan Bishop, Richard Bishop, Charles Gocher, Su Ling, W. David Oliphant, Peter Ragan. Vinyl cut by Peter Koerfer at Ivory Tower. Edition of 400.
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UNROCK 023LP
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A critical meditation on variations of Orientalism practiced by Arabs themselves, as well as those who were born and raised within the diaspora. It originally began as a documentation of extended drum techniques, but eventually morphed into a project of more ambitious scope. Having an open timeframe, Julius Masri gave himself reasons to include all the instruments he obsessively picked up and learned over the years. The work accumulated intentions and guiding principles, and it became rather autobiographical in nature. Some of the tracks either refer to or were recorded in the actual physical spaces he grew up near, in Tripoli, Lebanon during the 1980s. The Arabic Room the title refers to is the sitting room in his family's house that was decked out in hyper orientalist exoticism, mashing together furniture, fixtures, paintings from all over the Arabic speaking world. The sitting room, or salon, is common in Lebanese homes made specifically to host and entertain guests. Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and other western made Orientalist cultural artifacts not only had ubiquitous presence in the house, but also found their way onto TV shows and commercials. After moving to the US, his parents recreated this room in their home. Additionally, his father's generation was one that saw their country transform from a post-agrarian trading society after WWII to a center of banking and finance within the span of a few decades. The sense of some lost Eden-like innocence of the interwar years permeated much of the media that was available to him growing up there. This album is neither ironic nor some judgmental pronouncement. Call it critical nostalgia. For Masri, there isn't much difference between this form of exotic fantasy creation, and his own adolescence steeped in comic books and listening to bands like Voivod. They both seem to him part of what's known in German as Fernweh, "a nostalgia for a place one's never been". All instruments are performed by Masri himself, (drums, Egyptian rababa, Azeri kamancheh, circuit bent electronics, keyboards, hammered dulcimer, and vocals). Genre-hopping is foundational to the album's ethos; jazz, metal, experimental, electro-chaabi, and sound collage all appear within the framework of Arabic music, creating the sense of adventurous possibilities best associated with well curated mixtapes. Edition of 300.
Julius Masri is a Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist and performer/composer, originally born in Tripoli, Lebanon. The Arabic Room is his debut solo-album. Currently he is working and playing with members of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
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UNROCK 021LP
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Follow up to their 2012 Feign To Delight, Gaiety Of Gods on Beirut's Annihaya Records, the long history of the band continues. An eclectic multi-instrumentalists delight from Will Eizlini, Anthony von Seck, Alexandre St-Onge, and Sam Shalabi. Features the centerpiece "Det. Nussbaum's Worst Case" with the formidable Manuela Giron's vocal-performance, telling a wonderful weird story of true life. ... El burro sabe mas que tu... Nadietequiere... A grown band on the peak of their power on a roundtrip through their extensive musical world, adding analog electronica, echoing guitars, notes from oriental landscapes, Mariachi adaptions and grand piano. Robotic player piano homunculus of Bach -- if he was built by Bedouins in Upper Egypt... and ketamine, cannabis and mushrooms. A Middle-Eastern Frankenstein.
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UNROCK 020LP
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A non-Western concept split album. The Ornette Coleman classic "Lonely Woman", deeply Middle- and South-Eastern adapted and re-arranged by two different artists. Arranged by Joel Robinson, Arizona's Sunn Trio are transmitting the track into a different genre with dilruba (a north-Indian instrument similar to the Sarangi), tabla, tanpura, guitar, cello, knife, bells, drums and percussion to the hazy banks of Ganges. The soundtrack for a Punjabi opium-coma. Egyptian composer Sam Shalabi (Dwarfs Of East Agouza, Land Of Kush, Karkhana, Shalabi Effect) re-arranged the track for solo oud -- delightful, complex, warm and elegant with the background of an experienced improviser. The version on the album is a different, peppier version of the same song, which was available digitally only through Constellation Records Corona Borealis project. Saraswati covers series; limited edition one-time pressing of 300.
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UNROCK 019LP
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W.David Oliphant, well known for his visionary work with industrial outfit Maybe Mental, dark ambient ritual group Life Garden, his huge solo-output, and various collaborations with the Bishop brothers, Michael Pistrui (Fat Gray Cat), and Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Dwarfs Of East Agouza, Invisible Hands, Clandestine Quartet) came together in Arizona in February 2020 to record an album in two days. Nobody could guess that it would land this far beyond expectations. Prepared computer (W.David Oliphant) and acoustic guitar (Alan Bishop) are the only instruments used, together with the charismatic voice of Alan Bishop, and featuring the vocal talents of Michael Pistrui. The result is a one-of-a-kind album, impossible to categorize, warlock cabaret, absurd and macabre, directly from the darkrooms of the mind. Morbid flowers, Vaudevillian cinema, psychedelic wastelands, the cross between Sun City Girls and Einstürzende Neubauten. While the lyrics immediately burn images into the listeners brain, the electronic/acoustic sound varies between western/non-western Industrial Folk. The Blixa Bargeld-ish "I Civilized You", the title giving "Dead Gardens" and the fake-Eastern influenced "A Memory" through which the spirit of the Sun City Girls seems to float, are centerpieces of the album. Pure magic witchcraft, never rock. A soundtrack for the darkest film noir you've never watched. Vines Grow Between My Eyes will be released in a deluxe gatefold cover, with all lyrics printed on the inside. One-time pressing.
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UNROCK 017LP
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After a long hiatus the noisy and most telepathic Montreal impro trio Jane & The Magik Bananas, led by Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush, Karkhana, Dwarfs Of East Agouza) returned with a shifted focus exploring rhythm in a global sense. Live compositional practice, with rhythm and polyrhythm as the structuring principle, lead the group to different kinds of Western/non-Western tuning and micro tonality. In a certain way they play in the Western tradition of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time Band, Harry Partch, and Captain Beefheart. Various "world music" traditions boiled together in the groovy crucible of improvisation. An album that will certainly delight friends of the Dwarfs Of East Agouza. Personnel: Michel F Cote - drums, amplified percussion, feedback; Alexandre St-Onge - electric bass, electronics, voice; Sam Shalabi - electric guitar. Limited edition released; part of Unrock's Saraswati Series.
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LP
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UNROCK 015LP
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Bitter Balls, the second full-length from Karkhana, the group featuring members of Dwarfs Of East Agouza, A "Trio", Konstrukt, Chicago Tentet, Land of Kush, among others. It perfectly shows the ongoing incredible progression and artistic flow the group is currently working under. Four new, fine-tuned compositions of crystal clear and deep, dark, distorted unrock compositions -- electric and acoustic. The cross between old school and contemporary oriental improve-prog. Ripe fruits of love and wisdom. Mastered by Harris Newman, sleeve design by Mazen Kerbaj. One-time pressing.
The ensemble: Sharif Sehnaoui - electric guitar; Sam Shalabi - electric guitar, oud; Michael Zerang - drums, percussion; Mazen Kerbaj - trumpet, electronics; Maurice Louca - organ; Tony Eleh - electric bass; Umut Caglar - zurna, guembri, percussion.
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UNROCK 016LP
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Yet another luxurious spectacle from the Saraswati Series. Ex-Sun City Girls master guitarist Richard Bishop teams up with Cul De Sac's long time Girls live collaborator, Ed Yazijian. Two grand seigneurs of underground deliver a unique album, deeply Western-rooted, filled with the musical spirit and structures of Indian music at the same time. Elegant interplay, brilliantly arranged, using mostly guitar (lap steel, tenor) and strings (viola), and an Indian stringed instrument, and some piano. A classic Saraswati Series sonic adventure. A contemporary classy polaroid, state of the art in today's underground music. Three untitled pieces which came up right Unrock's alley. 140 gram vinyl; one-time pressing.
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UNROCK 012LP
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Back in August of 2015, the legendary London grand seigneurs of improvisation pioneers, AMM (John Tilbury and Eddie Prevost) joined forces with Lebanese electro-acoustic-free-jazz outfit "A" Trio (Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui, and Raed Yassin). Two generations of improvisers with a very differing approach to work, captured dancing slowly along a very thin line of fine-tuned, both, clear and crackling improvised sounds. Harsh at times with magic mellow moments of intense, fragile, broken noises. No overdubs, no use of electronics. Unjazz at times. Recorded by Andreas Pysiewicz at St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin on August 27th, 2015 in the context of Daad's Mikromusik Festival. Artwork and design by Mazen Kerbaj. Mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut. Produced in Lebanon by Al Maslakh and Unrock; Mastered by Peter Körfer at Ivory Tower. One-time pressing.
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UNROCK 014LP
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Electric Smog, the next installment in Unrock's ongoing Saraswati series, will be the most rebellious and wildest to date. Again an intercontinental output, this is a dangerous, electric brew filled with exotic aroma from Cairo's sound guerilla, Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls), Maurice Louca (Karkhana), and Sam Shalabi (Land of Kush, Karkhana). The always-changing face of Dwarfs Of East Agouza shows them in a feverish mode with an adrenalin rush; massive eruptions fight a genuine flow. Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt manage to sound like a tonal cyclone consisting of 156 musicians, blowing heads and minds away. Out of the blue they suddenly manage to change mode and develop mild, calm, and elegant/fragile melodies. Interplay between early Baker and Clapton in Cream's looser frequencies seems sometimes just a stone's throw away. Electric Smog is meant to be a twin release to Sir Richard Bishop and David Oliphant/Karkhana with Nadah El Shazly's Carte Blanche (UNROCK 013LP, 2019).
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UNROCK 013LP
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It took more than just some time and imagination to believe that Carte Blanche, this piece of astonishing contemporary music by some of the most talented and able musicians of the international avant-circuit, could be realized. Karkhana, a highly explosive mostly Middle Eastern/Mediterranean ensemble -- Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush, Shalabi Effect, Dwarfs Of East Agouza), Sharif Sehnaoui ("A" Trio), Michael Zerang (Peter Brötzmann, Hamid Drake, Jaap Blonk, Vandermark, etc.), Mazen Kerbaj ("A" Trio), Maurice Louca (Dwarfs Of East Agouza), Tony Elieh, Umut Caglar (Konstrukt) -- is weaving a tapestry of sound for Egyptian songstress Nadah El Shazly's voice to slide deep into. On the other side, two grand seigneurs of underground, ex-Sun City Girls and Rangda guitar whirlwind Richard Bishop and W. David Oliphant (Maybe Mental) play it loud. Far Eastern post-industrial. Very heavy, sharp, and crystal clear. Ripe. Carte Blanche will be released as a one-time pressing. It is released as a part of Unrock's Saraswati Series. Vinyl cut by Peter Koerfer at Ivory Tower. Extra-heavy deluxe cover, printed cardboard insert. 140 gram vinyl.
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UNROCK 011LP
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More than ten years after the demise of Sun City Girls as an entity, something wild and weird has now surfaced, grown and ripened in the heat and dust of the same desert. Described as deep spirited, Arabic-music-tinged free jazz-punk and harsh exotica, Sunn Trio's ever-evolving ensemble digests a number of genres, spitting them back out in creative destruction. Carrying on a long tradition of sun-beaten Phoenix punk, Sunn Trio evokes the sweltering and hallucinatory Arizona desert. Echoes of Sonny Sharrock, John McLaughlin, and Sir Richard Bishop can be heard in Joel Robinson's fiery blurs of guitar. Imagine the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 in full force, echoing from behind a curtain of bitter haze. Founded by Robinson in 2010, the ever-changing band has been constantly recording and self-releasing material in the form of tapes, and now deliver, their first LP, Fayrus. Fayrus ("virus" in Arabic) will be released as a one-time edition.
Alan Bishop on Fayrus: "Wielding Indo-Arabian saz and white lightning six-string shrapnel amidst an alligator snapping turtle's rhythm section, this trio-quartet-sextet may also sprout horns, flutes, animal skins, or shadow gamelan to faithfully demolish that whiny and predictable listening experience of today's tepidly lazy, underachieving experimental music scene. Not a 'safe' environment." 180 gram vinyl pressing.
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10"
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UNROCK XXX-EP
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Limited edition four-track split vinyl 10" featuring legendary Sun City Girls Alan and Richard Bishop, celebrating Unrock's 25th anniversary. It features the first new recordings by Sir Richard Bishop since his 2015 Tangier Sessions and two exclusive pearls by Alan Bishop, aka Alvarius B. All tracks are exclusive to this "Unrock 25" release. Includes printed lyrics sheet. Limited one-time pressing.
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UNROCK 010LP
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Dadawahn Bishopesque taken to just another level. Beirut, Lebanon.... three major players: Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Invisible Hands, Alvarius B) Osama Shalabi (Karkhana, Shalabi Effect, etc.), and Maurice Louca (Karkhana, Lekhfa). Delicate improvised freeform recorded live in Beirut in spring of 2017. Improvisation on the highest level. Organic, never arty. Hot. Released in association with Mophradat. Cover art made exclusively for this release by Mariana Castillo Debal. Deluxe gatefold sleeve. Limited edition, one-time pressing.
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UNROCK 009LP
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Very fine tuned, almost Mediterranean, Middle Eastern mainly string orchestra. A supergroup with members of Dwarfs Of East Agouza, Konstrukt, "A" Trio, Johnny Kafta Anti-Vegetarian Orchestra, etc. Umut Çağlar, Sam Shalabi, Sharif Sehnaoui, Mazen Kerbaj, Toni Elieh, Maurice Louca, and Michael Zerang unleash a blend of fiery and free psychedelic forms and un-jazz, with various shades and traces of shaabi, tarab, sufi, and post everything -- timeless, rock-free, kraut-jazz. Recorded during a wet, cold and stormy November night in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2016. Cover art by Mazen Kerbaj. 140 gram vinyl; Limited edition of 500 (one-time pressing).
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UNROCK 007LP
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Unrock's Saraswati Series is mostly string orientated, zigzagging between the lines where underground and high-art performance overlap. Out jumps the first part of their actively anti-Western sub-series: Mother Of All Sinners, a part of the "Puppet on a String" twin albums. Osama Shalabi, a born Egyptian (best known for his work with Shalabi Effect & Land Of Kush), is an expert playing the oud. He's a traveler between the Eastern and Western worlds and long-time contributor to the Montreal scene. Sam - who spent the last few years home in Cairo - breathes his own sense of space and time through the epic "Tamara", an 18 minute long melodic, delightful improvisation. The other story, "Faith Of Our Fathers", starts in Agouza, Cairo, where Sam Shalabi and Alan Bishop spent some time jamming. They'd run free, lose form, find intensity, and wound up creating a contemporary version of oriental psychedelic free form. A mind-blowing, wild, never mellow Cairo night, now documented here. It's getting intense: A north-African sand storm. Mother Of All Sinners will be released as a one-time limited run pressing on 140 gram vinyl. It has an extra heavy deluxe cover and a solid printed inlay.
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UNROCK 006LP
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140-gram LP in gatefold sleeve with a special drawing by Mazen Kerbaj. Mastered for vinyl by Harris Newman. Edition of 500. Entirely recorded at Tunefork Studios on the outskirts of Beirut, Burj al Imam's five tracks include three largely improvised numbers, a loose reworking of Sun City Girls track "The Imam," and a cover of traditional Americana song "Gently Johnny" (a highlight of Alan Bishop's live Alvarius B. shows). True to their habits, the Lebanese trio of trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj, guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, and bassist Raed Yassin create acoustic improvised drones that range from insistent, chiming resonances with emergency alarm bells to low, thrumming hums. Avoiding conventional technique, "A" Trio generates rattling, metallic vibrations and a mechanistic backdrop out of which the instruments' true voices arise. With Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, The Invisible Hands, The Dwarfs of East Agouza) and his guitar and enigmatic voice in the mix, alternating between gentle crooning and the sounds of a howling dervish, this recording reaches an exceptional depth with strange sounds boiling down to a dark, heavy spiritual syrup. Psychedelic, industrial free jazz. Previously released on CD by the Beirut-based Annihaya label in 2015 (END 010CD).
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UNROCK 005LP
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The third installment in Unrock's string-related Saraswati Series features Grandseigneur Richard Bishop performing with his rough charm and maximum elegance, along with one of the hottest kick-ass avant-guitar players around, the now-Brooklyn-based Ava Mendoza. Besides her work in Unnatural Ways, she improvises constantly on NY's avant-stages along with Elliott Sharp, Jim Black, William Winant, Paul Flaherty, Tim Dahl, and others. Rumor has it that she was even in Caroliner. Recorded in full at Ivory Tower (Unrock Headquarters), the Sir opens up stepping deep into music history (as we know it), messing carefully around with the mysterious track that the New York Times focused on in their 2014 review of one of his live performances. An electric version of "Safe House," a bone-dry 2015 update on "Abyss," an eruptive outbreak from "Multiple Hallucination" into "Black Eyed Blue," and a mild and mellow reflection ("Ivory Tower"). Miss Mendoza is wild at heart and gives you the boot with what she's best at: thunderous, eruptive, twisted improvisations and perfect songs. Shadowtrapping.
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10"
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UNROCK 003EP
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Unrock's Saraswati series continues with a trip into the spiritual wonderland of Alvarius B. aka Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Invisible Hands). Deep down, heavy, Sun-City-Girls-flavored Dada deluxe. Crackling midgets, purist psychedelia. A cocoon of seven colorful, shiny monoliths of essential nonsense, each dirty pearl standing by itself. Limited edition one-time pressing.
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